John Mayer, “Continuum”
POP|Aware/Columbia, released Sept. 12
Shooting ahead of his 2003 hit “Heavier Things,” John Mayer outruns his adult-contemporary ghosts to channel a sort of pop-oriented Stevie Ray Vaughn. On “Continuum,” his bluesy voice and noodly guitar overtake the ingratiatingly melodic, Dave Matthews-sound-alike bent that defined “Things.”
“Continuum” also follows on the heels of some high-profile collaborations for Mayer (Buddy Guy, B.B. King), and the newfound commitment to authenticity is striking. Opener “Waiting on the World to Change” drapes earnest, by-the-numbers melodies over a landscape of squiggly organ lines and insistent handclaps. “I Don’t Trust Myself” may as well be a ’90s Sting cover, with its sleepy-mellow synths and muted bass lines. “Belief” dials down Mayer’s breathy vocals in favor of nimble guitar work, while “Gravity” wouldn’t sound out of place on a ’70s soul record.
Sure, the painfully vanilla cover of Hendrix’s “Bold as Love” should have been cut, and Mayer is still a minor player in the blues field he seems so desperate to penetrate. But “Continuum” is an appropriately named and unexpected leap forward for an artist that nearly faded into the teen-pop radio sidelines. If he keeps this up, he’s actually got a shot at winning over critics who dismissed him as a second-rate blues-folkie for the “TRL” set. |John Wenzel
Bonnie “Prince”
Billy, “The Letting Go”
ALT-COUNTRY/FOLK|Drag City, released today
Prolific alt-country songwriter Will Oldham has tried on more styles than his fans care to remember. Most of them skew toward indie-country (especially under the various Palace monikers) and nearly all have worked well for the bearded folkie, whose lyrical obsessions with death and dark, spindly women set him apart from a field littered with forced weirdness.
“The Letting Go” pulls back Oldham’s oft-overloaded sound to focus on acoustic arrangements, male-female harmonies and his reliably stark, wavering pipes. Recorded in Iceland, but sounding like a termite-ridden barn in Tennessee, “The Letting Go” opens with the gently pastoral “Love Comes to Me.”
Labelmate Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables, an insufferably pretentious band on its own, contributes surprisingly affecting backing vocals that lift Oldham’s delicate arrangements to the heavens. Thick string passages worthy of ’70s singer-songwriters like Nick Drake help cushion the bleakness, especially on the gorgeous “Cursed Sleep,” the album’s clear highlight and a musical step forward for the idiosyncratic artist.|John Wenzel
The Rapture, “Pieces
of the People We Love”
DANCE ROCK|Universal Motown, released Sept. 12
The Rapture was in danger of becoming a one-note dance-punk/indie act, too self-conscious and erratic for its own good. “Pieces of the People We Love” probably won’t win over those that didn’t dig its last disc, “Echoes,” but it at least proves the band knows how to keep itself in check and exercise its real muscles.
Blistering single “Get Myself Into It” cribs moves from Stereo MC’s “Connected” (especially the sax breaks) but it contains exactly the right mix of high-register vocals, punchy synths and ’80s guitar. First-rate production work from Danger Mouse and inspired pairings of organic and electro elements – always with an eye toward the NYC retro-hipster sound – only sweeten the already tooth-rotting deal.|John Wenzel|
Other releases today:
Diana Krall, “From This Moment On” (Verve) Grammy-winning Canadian jazz vocalist sticks to the standards, a mellow, accomplished collection including Irving Berlin and Cole Porter.
Clay Aiken, “A Thousand Different Ways” (RCA) Disposable and grating, Aiken’s faux-soul takes a shot at the treacly Badfinger pop standard “Without You,” to embarrassingly bland results.
